Planetary coilers of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,355,775, are customarily provided with fixed guides such as eyelets or yokes through and over which sliver is fed to the trumpet of the coiler head and thence to the coiler calender rolls for delivery in a predetermined pattern into a sliver can. It has been found that a buildup often occurs on the eyelets and the like and that there are irregular variations in tension produced in the sliver due to the irregular nature of the frictional contact between the sliver and the eyelet. If the fiber is cotton, a sticky substance known as honeydew collects on the eyelets, and if the fiber is synthetic, a gummy finish buildup accumulates causing the fibers to hang up due to uneven friction interfering with the free flow of fibers over the guides. Moreover, static electricity is often generated by the contact between the sliver and such guide members disorienting the carded fibers.
Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to eleminate the point of frictional drag between the sliver and the eyelets and the like with a wheel or rotatable guiding element.
It has been further discovered that due to the variation in distance between the constantly moving trumpet and the fixed eyelet and the like, that tension variations occur as a result. These variations in tension would, of course, reflect in the sliver and subsequently produce yarn in the form of thick and thin places. It is another important object of the invention, therefore, to provide a tracking mechanism permitting the rotatable guide member to follow fairly closely the arcuate path of the trumpet as occurs in connection with a planetary coiler.